![\"Boulton](\"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/article-images-22\/Boulton-Paul-Defiant.jpg\")
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In celebration of the Royal Air Force Museum\u2019s 50th Anniversary, five artefacts spanning five decades have been made available for adoption. The new anniversary artefacts have each been chosen by a Curator to tell the story of the Museum and its early years, including two objects with a special Royal connection.<\/strong><\/p>\n A remarkable piece of footage showing Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opening the Museum is the first of five new artefacts in the adoptable collection. Filmed by one of the Museum\u2019s first curators on the 15 November 1972, the footage shows Her Majesty arriving at the Museum, signing the guest book, and unveiling a commemorate plaque. The plaque remains on display at the Museum\u2019s London site to this day and the film of the Royal visit is part of the Museum\u2019s digital collection.<\/p>\n The pen used by Her Majesty to sign the visitor book on the Museum\u2019s opening day is now available for adoption. An ornate silver quill pen had been acquired for the occasion, but hours before the Royal opening a message came from Buckingham Palace advising the Queen did not use quill pens. The Officer in charge of the ceremony quickly found a replacement pen in the Officer Commanding RAF Hendon\u2019s office. This inconspicuous pen, used by Her Majesty on the day was never used again and is kept in the Museum\u2019s reserve collection, at Stafford.<\/p>\n Found in the Museum\u2019s archive collection is a photograph album complied by RAF personnel showing the last days of RAF Hendon and the beginnings of the RAF Museum London. The photographs capture the station\u2019s role changing, including the removal of the original entrance to RAF Hendon, and a visit from the Duke of Edinburgh, the Museum\u2019s former patron, during the construction phase. This unusual adoption provides an extraordinary photographic account of the landscape changing into what we recognise today, and a tantalising insight into the Museum\u2019s history.<\/p>\n To mark the Museum\u2019s 50th anniversary a new art exhibition \u2018To the Stars\u2019 opened in London. Included in this is Cyril Power\u2019s Lino Cut \u2018Air Raid\u2019 a visual representation of a dog fight, and of Power\u2019s service in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. This adoptable artefact is one of the first artworks acquired by the Museum\u2019s inaugural director, John Tanner, in the mid 70s.<\/p>\n The fifth anniversary artefact is the Bouton Paul Defiant, the sole surviving example of its type. The aircraft was part of the original displays at the RAF Museum London when it opened in 1972. It has since moved to the Museum\u2019s Midlands site, which is a fitting home for an aircraft manufactured in Wolverhampton. The Defiant was a two-seat turret fighter which operated?with mixed fortunes during the Battle of Britain period. It found it\u2019s niche as a night fighter in the 1940-42 period, as well as extensive use later in the war for air-sea rescue and target tug roles in the UK and Middle and Far East.<\/p>\n Ella Hewitt, RAF Museum Individual Giving Manager said<\/strong>: Adoptees will all receive a 50th anniversary edition digital photo, certificate, online recognition with a personalised message, and exclusive updates throughout the year.<\/p>\n Adopt an Artefact highlights a selection of iconic and unusual objects from the Museum collection which span more than a century of aviation and RAF history. Starting at \u00a325.00, adoptions last 12 months from the date they are adopted. People can browse the items and adopt online at www.rafmuseum.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In celebration of the Royal Air Force Museum\u2019s 50th Anniversary, five artefacts spanning five decades have been made available for adoption. The new anniversary artefacts have each been chosen by a Curator to tell the story of the Museum and its early years, including two objects with a special Royal connection. A remarkable piece of … Continue reading RAF Museum honours Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with artefacts for adoption<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[323,10,55,205],"class_list":["post-2500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation-museum-news","tag-323","tag-news","tag-november","tag-raf-museum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions\/2501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2018There are so many wonderful objects that could have told the story of the Museum, it was difficult to choose five. The artefacts we selected show a really nice cross section of our story and the breadth of our collection. We have something from our Archives, an item from our store in Stafford, a digitised piece of film, something from our new art exhibition and lastly, an aircraft that has been on display at both sites.\u2019<\/p>\n